An article in the Economist finds that life is improving in the West Bank. Speculation continues regarding prospects for revival of a US-led peace process in the Middle East. Special Mideast envoy George Mitchell is scheduled to visit both Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mubarak are scheduled to meet in Cairo. Senior Fatah member, Azzam Al-Ahmad, expresses reservations over Egypt’s proposal for Palestinian elections. The severing of ties between the Bank of Israel and Gaza banks has severe repercussion for disabled Palestinian laborers. Israeli Defense Minister Barak urges Israel's left to tone down its criticisms. Police forces of Israel and the Palestinian Authority have reportedly demonstrated increasing cooperation.

Not as horrible as it was
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

A COUPLE of brown sheep squeal and squirm as they are dragged into the backyard of the Alian family’s house in the Jalazun refugee camp, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah. A man slits their throats, spraying the wall with blood. Once the sheep are motionless, women silently start cutting the meat into neat portions to be distributed to the camp’s poorest families in honour of the family’s “martyr”, 15-year-old Muhammad, who was recently killed by Israeli soldiers.

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Build Palestine, and they will come
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ziad Asali - September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s blueprint for what he has called “de facto Palestinian statehood” offers a new and important element to the quest for peace in the Middle East. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians hinges on recognition and security for Israel and freedom and independence for a Palestinian state. Fayyad’s model emphasizes the importance of the reality of the Palestinian state as a functioning entity, irrespective of international recognition and grand diplomatic gestures.

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Towards a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ziad Asali - September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s blueprint for what he called “de facto Palestinian statehood” offers a new and important element to the quest for peace in the Middle East.

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Israel stops money for Gaza’s disabled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Yunis al Masri was luckier than his two brothers in Gaza. Although the truck that ploughed into their car as they travelled to work in Israel 24 years ago killed Jaber and Kamal instantly, Mr al Masri survived with shattered bones, internal bleeding and brain damage. Today, aged 49 and after many operations, he has difficulty walking and problems remembering to do things. Any hope of working again was crushed in 1985 amid the car wreckage.

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Pitfalls in US timetable for Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Sharmila Devi - September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

A rough timetable in the US push for Middle East peace is likely to emerge in the next few weeks after several months in which the administration has gone against some sceptical expectations and pressured Israel for a settlement freeze. Numerous pitfalls lie ahead, as always in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, but US resolve remains firm, said officials and analysts.

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Obama's impossible ambition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Benny Morris - (Opinion) September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

President Obama's efforts to revive the Middle East peace process are bound to fail because of the unbridgeable divide separating Israel's and Palestine's political goals. The minor problems are Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's unwillingness to partition Jerusalem and enable the Palestinians to constitute the eastern half of the city as their capital, and his reluctance to freeze the settlement enterprise in the West Bank.

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Growing ties between Israeli, PA police
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Lappin - September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Away from the media spotlight on efforts to kick-start diplomatic talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the two parties' police forces together with the IDF's civil administration are increasing their cooperation, and have implemented a series of confidence-building measures over the past two years. The cooperation has taken a number of surprising forms.

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Fatah backs Egypt's plan for 'unity'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Fatah welcomes a new Egyptian proposal aimed at solving its dispute with Hamas, a high-ranking Fatah official said on Thursday. The Egyptian proposal has the support of the Hamas as well. "Fatah has welcomed and accepted the latest proposal," said Jibril Rajoub, the newly-elected member of Fatah's Central Committee, who said that the proposal would bring the two rival parties closer to signing a "national unity agreement."

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Rattling the Cage: The mother of all missed opportunities
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

So there's a stalemate in the peace process, so what else is new? Actually, there is something new. What's new is that the Palestinians in the West Bank are doing what we've dreamed the Palestinians would do for more than a century - and we refuse to see it. They've effectively stopped terrorism. They're building up their economy. They're enforcing the law. They're being trained by the Americans and they're cooperating with Israeli military and intelligence. They're arresting Islamic militants by the thousands, and they're not hesitating to shoot it out with them.

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